The 2024 Gravel World Championships took some heat for being lacking enough “serious” gravel, but we’re here to break down why it was way tougher than you think—and why it matters!
Dan & Si also share news of what Mark Cavendish has in common with James Bond, which might not be immediately obvious. They also cover why Lachlan Morton is an even bigger legend than previously thought, and why the cycling utopia of the Netherlands is going to seem a little less idyllic if one politician gets their way…
00:00 Welcome to the GCN Show!
00:48 This week in the world of cycling
02:09 Si’s Experience at the Gravel World Champs
04:18 Were the Gravel Championships actually a gravel race? 🤔
09:54 Corners at the Gravel Worlds
11:39 Course & UCI World Championships in the U.S.?
12:37 Do cyclists always complain about the Gravel Worlds lacking gravel?
14:05 Cycling Shorts
14:19 WaveWear shorts that reduce lactic acid in legs?!
15:11 What do James Bond & Mike Cavendish have in common?
16:04 Lachlan Morton sets the Around Australia record
20:56 Minister Madlener’s aim to have 25% of bike users wearing helmets in the Netherlands
22:24 Cyclist-Only Bike Shuttle Bus Under The River Thames
23:12 Join us in our weekly Club Ride on Zwift! 🎉
23:50 Hack/Bodge Of the Week
30:34 Caption Competition
32:57 Comment of the Week
38:07 This Week On GCN
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50 Comments
For defining gravel so eloquently (I legit cackled for a solid 30 seconds) and for Dan always providing us with dad-joke level humor. Keep it coming! Love you guys 🖖🏻 Tuesdays are a highlight. My husband and I love watching your show together. While foam rolling, of course 😏
Gravel Worlds was Road – at least if last years Gravel World champ is correct. After DNFing Unbound, Mohoric said that he was sticking to road.
If the race had motorbikes on course, it's not gravel…
Caption Contest – Now the real race begins, you only medal if you finish it.
A proper gravel course is composed of 3/8 minus rock, held in loose clumps by lost tire sealant.
That WC course looked fun
Zwift is great but they need to move to open world maps. I switched to the GTBikeV mod for Grand Theft Auto V. I can ride anywhere I want on the map and it's been much more entertaining.
#captioncontest Jasper can't hide his fear of the near beer.
#CaptionContest New UCI "Podium Drug Testing" goes very wrong.
re: Gravel Worlds. This seems to me like a UCI power grab. We don't have "cobble bikes" but there are plenty of very famous races on cobbles. They have cobbled sections interspersed with tarmac roads. We call these road races and riders generally ride road bikes with wider tires. The Gravel Worlds are tarmac roads with some gravel/dirt segments interspersed. Why is this not a road race? Is it really different than Strade? or the Belgian/French cobble races? Riders typically ride road bikes with wider tires. Why? Because there is so much paved road these are faster. These races are at the intersection of road and light off road. In the US (and esp. the Life time GP races) races are at the intersection of gravel and mountain biking. Check out the winning bikes in these races (drop bar mountain bikes on MTB tires). They typically have very little paved road – and yes Si, there are sections of gravel road without turns in Kansas. They are hard riding. Maybe you should try Unbound or Leadville and compare that to the gravel world races. Maybe Leadville should be next year's Gravel world champs course. I think Keegan would win – again!
Xylophones are wooden and glockenspiels are metal. It's a kid's glockenspiel
Caption competition: When your mate says "Only one beer tonight"
#captioncompetition Milan Fretin of Cofidis showing Dan (I think he's the presenter) how to down a beer.
You guys need to check out the Dust Bowl 100 in Indiana if you want corners as somewhere around 160. No big hills but enough turns to make it interesting when a fast race as this one is.
I thought it was pretty rough and i am still shocked at the pace vdp did. Its definitely gravel.
I have one of those beer glasses at home. They are 3 liter ones. Just the right size for a six pack of beers.
#captioncontest Pro cycling has taken a turn for the worse as three riders found taking banned substances from massive test tubes.
#captioncontest The riders were not impressed with the new urine sample checking procedure.
Caption: Next up it's a sprint for the urinal!
The main difference between euro and us is the length of time it takes, seems pretty clear to me since grav worlds took less than half of the time of unbound
Caption comp… Pogi convinces the pro tour his secret is what he does with his 1st morning toilet trip. Was he just taking the pee??
Caption competition: Even this 0% beer will make you forget the race name… #Münsterland Giro #Dan Lloyd
#CaptionCompetition: All thinking: "My beer tastes kind of off, but I can't put a label on it."
From what I can tell, it didn’t look like Unbound so everyone is losing their minds, especially in America.
Ultimately, there was plenty of mud, gravel, rutted farm roads etc and the term ‘gravel’ is still very much a wide one… as referenced by Si, several BWR ‘gravel’ events are made up of huge amounts of actual paved/tarmac public roads, with the general public driving up and down them!
People have to bear in mind that as a World level UCI event there are a lot of considerations – there were fans all round the course, huge amounts in some areas, you don’t get that at American gravel events so the organisers don’t need to take that into account. There is no way any World Tour team is going to let their riders race on open roads with people driving about, so it has to be in an area that allows for properly closed roads etc. The UCI broadcast most of the race live as well, which has its own complexities. Also despite not all being on actual gravel, no-one could say it was an easy course… it was full gas with loads of punchy climbs and some deep ruts etc.
I’m a fan of American gravel events, but not everything has to be the same, and I do hope that the format changes and develops year on year and we do get more courses resembling the best US gravel events too. The most important thing is the quality of rider and that was comfortably the highest calibre field ever to start a Gravel race.
You two are such a joy to watch together! 🙏
On the helmets. On average way more people inside cars get head injuries than cyclists. So actually if policy makers want to protect us with helmets, first road users for compulsion are motorists, then pedestrians and maybe cyclists. Also as helmets dissuade people from a particular mode of transport, targeting car drivers would likely reduce people driving, thereby reducing collisions with cyclists and pedestrians. Collisions with motor vehicles are the biggest cause of cyclist and pedestrian head injuries: win win!
The course was incredibly intense, particularly the first 50K. Narrow, constantly changing surface, corners, punchy hills, fast descents.One of the better, harder and extremely well organized.
People also don't take into account the weather. It was dry for a couple of days and warm both saturday and sunday. Reverse that and less ten half of te field would finish the course.
Caption competition:Watts for dinner? Near beer!
I can guarantee that the 2026 will absolutely gravel, and they’ll be complaining about it
Dont give these winy US spirit of gravel dentists too much attention. They just cry since the first US rider was somewhere in the 50s.
I loved the gravel Worlds, esp since I could watch it live.
Helmets. What I would like to know is how many pedestrian fatalities would be prevented if they wore helmets?
If comparable lets make them wear them as well…..
#CaptionCompetition Just like Dan used to, real winners go the extra yard.
Thanks
#captioncompetition Well they say sprinting is a pissing competition…
We need somewhere with proper gravel roads. Places like Eskdalemuir, Kielder etc. Long cimbs on proper gravel 😉
What the organisers got right with the gravel 🌈 worlds this year was that it was a week after road 🌈 worlds and about a ten hour drive away. Perhaps an eight hour race in the US wilderness is more authentic but with no fans, no tv coverage and no euro pros, who is going to pay for it?
25:10 Great hack, but this bike doesn't even have rim brakes, Si 😂
A lot of bikes with drum/roller brakes or disc brakes have mudguard mounts, there's two such bikes in my shed
caption competition: "The Fastest Hobbits: the podium at the 2024 Shire Tour"
The tunnel bus isnt the first instance of this happening. You can already get the a bus across Dartford tunnel. You stand at a weird bus shelter and use the phone. A man in a van then arrives to take you and your bike across. Its kind of strange but makes a good snack stop and is always something different. We sometimes use this on our Thames gravel route (thats UK gravel with lots of corners, not Emporias long dull straights) and so far the drivers have all been awesome and up for a chat as we get taken across the Thames.
Spoke with Si at the start pens. Got a picture with him. Told him my wife likes him better than me🤣 … and I don’t blame her. He was so friendly, interested and genuine. Legend 👍
Wouldn't it be nice if the gravel rainbow stripes inspire MVDP to show up at the start line next to Lachlan Morton at UNBOUND or one of the other Life Time Grand Prix gravel races in 2025? Perhaps The Rad? Or maybe get the two of them to do a 500km cafe ride together? Dare to dream!
What the organisers got right with the gravel 🌈 worlds this year was that it was a week after road 🌈 worlds and about a ten hour drive away. Perhaps an eight hour race in the US wilderness is more authentic but with no fans, no tv coverage and no euro pros, who is going to pay for it?v
If you use over 40mm tyres it’s not gravel it’s mountain bike
Hi Si, I also was lucky enough to ride the World Gravel Champs, in to proper old mans group 60-64. Despite being brought off after 2 miles by a Dutch guy I remounted and finished. I was a crazy and amazing day. The best day and hardest day on my bike in the 32 years since I started cycling, The course was awsome, especially the Leuven finishing circuit. What made the circuit so hard was all the mirco efforts out of all the corners, especially on the road sections.
Hi GCN just wondering when the video of oli’s italian challenge was going to be shown
BOYCOTT ALL UCI EVENTS!!! THEY MURDERED A 16 YR< OLD BY LEAVING HER FOR TWO HOURS IN THE FOREST WITHOUT AIDE WHILE THE WINNERS TOOK THIER MEDALS!!!! COWARDS ALL OF YOU IF YOU CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THEM HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR HER BECAUSE THAT COULD HAVE BEEN ANYONE OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! COWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I think US cycling fans like me are desperate for an American win. Combine that with (justifiable IMO) pride about our unbelievably fun gravel events, and it makes sense why folks want to diminish the Worlds in Europe. It feels like a way to explain how an American didn't finish anywhere close to the top. To me, though, the route looked so much fun, the forested sections were stunning and I'd love to give that gravel race a go. 😀
What became of "Ollie's Epic Ride"? — I thought it was supposed to air last week.
Hey Dan I think I saw a slight bulge on your upper arm during the show!!! Great work keep hitting that gym!
Lach is a local for us in Port Mac but what a legend and remains a truly great guy 🎉